The Shapeshifter
Influenza A
Your shot type keeps drifting, and Antigenic Shift fires every mutation at once. Unpredictable and always changing.
Infect. Mutate. Spread.
An action roguelite where you are the virus. Break into a host, tear through eight organs, outsmart an immune system that learns how you play, then take your infection to the whole world.
Coming soon to iPhone · iPad · Mac
What is Pathogen?
Pathogen is a fast, top-down action roguelite. You're a single virion dropped into a living host, and every cell in that body wants you dead. Shoot, dash and mutate your way through organ after organ, picking up traits that stack into ridiculous builds. Each run is one generation of your virus. Win or lose, your lineage carries on, mutates, and comes back stronger.
How a run plays
Every run starts in the nasal passage and pushes deeper toward the brain. The body fights back harder the further you go.
Pick a host, each with a hidden genome of strengths and weaknesses, and drop into its nose.
Auto-fire into waves of real immune cells: neutrophils, macrophages, B cells, NK cells and Killer T cells.
Grab traits as you go: burning, poison, chill, shock, bouncing and orbiting shots. Stack them into a build.
Beat each organ's guardian boss to break through to the next organ: lungs, bloodstream, lymph node, gut, liver, bone marrow, brain.
Four viruses
Every lineage starts as Influenza A. Mutations can turn it into three other viruses, each with its own skills, ultimate and playstyle.
The Shapeshifter
Your shot type keeps drifting, and Antigenic Shift fires every mutation at once. Unpredictable and always changing.
The Turncoat
Stores the cells it kills and releases them as an army that fights for you. Captured macrophages even tank hits on your behalf.
The Hemorrhager
Every hit can make cells bleed. Hemorrhage bleeds a whole crowd at once, and bleeding cells hit you softer.
The Superspreader
Fast and fragile. Cycles through Swarm, Fury and Ghost forms, and infected cells burst onto everything next to them.
A living body
Dominate too hard and the body notices. Detection rises, Killer T cells start hunting you room to room, and a Cytokine Storm sends crimson cells built to resist your exact build.
Build crafting
35 traits, each in 7 tiers from common to prismatic. Pick the same one again and it stacks. Grab a power-up for a few seconds of Chain Lightning, Fire Cross flamethrowers or Frost Aura, or find the rare CRISPR that makes you invincible.
Three Game Modes
Pick how you want to spread.
The main mode. Fight through the eight organs, earn XP and grow your lineage one generation at a time.
The story mode. Pick a city on the world map and infect it run by run. Every city fights back with its own policies.
Wave after wave in the deepest organ you've reached, with a boss every few sets. How long can you last?
Take cities, then whole continents. Politicians, doctors and the public respond as your infection spreads: lockdowns, mask mandates, booster campaigns and more, each changing how your runs play.
Between runs
Even a failed infection leaves something behind.
Spend points across three branches: active skills, passives and capstones.
Collect, equip, enhance and merge gear into higher tiers, and sometimes it mutates.
Each run is a generation. Your lineage mutates, switches viruses and inherits bonuses.
Permanent upgrades bought with the nucleotides you collect.
Daily and weekly goals with rewards to collect.
Real biology behind every cell, virus, organ and treatment you meet.
Play your way
Touch controls on iPhone and iPad. Full support for Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro and MFi controllers with remappable buttons. Keyboard and mouse on Mac, or a keyboard on iPad.
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Pathogen is in beta on iPhone and iPad. Join the community to play early, share your runs and help shape the game.